Motor Trend Speculates on 2013 Toyota RAV4

The Honda CR-V and the Toyota RAV4 rank among the most popular and best-selling mid-sized crossovers here in the States. With Honda massively refreshing the CR-V for 2012 (first unveiled at the 2011 Orange County Auto Show, then detailed at the LA Auto Show), you can imagine Toyota has put a priority flag on the next-gen RAV4 scheduled to debut either later this year or in early 2012.Toyota has not released any official information on the upcoming RAV4, but that hasn't stopped our counterparts over at Motor Trend from speculating on what the new vehicle could contain. The most radical change, suggests the enthusiast magazine, that Toyota could do is actually drop the RAV4 altogether. This would leave room for the similar and struggling Toyota Venza to fill despite the automaker's insistence both crossovers cover very different niches. We see little chance of this scenario happening; the RAV4 sells too well.One major change we do seeing happening is Toyota dropping the V-6 engine option found in the current Toyota RAV4. This would be in keeping, hypothesizes Motor Trend, with the Honda CR-V and even the upcoming Ford Escape. Both competitors are powered only by four-cylinder engines, albeit very powerful ones. Toyota may also drop the optional third row seating available in the RAV4 as well for similar reasons. Toyota will definitely be updating the RAV4's exterior and interior to be more in line with the rest of the brand currently lead by the refreshed Toyota Camry.Automotive.com's take: Images of the speculated 2013 Toyota RAV4 can be found over at Motor Trend (see link below). Personally, we think Motor Trend is dead on: the RAV4 sells well even in its current incarnation. Why mess with a winning formula?Source: Motor Trend

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